Joaquin Phoenix, left, and director Paul Thomas Anderson on the set of “Inherent Vice.” (Provided by Warner Bros. Pictures)

By week’s end Colorado will be host to two of moviedom’s finest iconoclasts when director Paul Thomas Anderson arrives in town for a special Alamo Drafthouse Cinema-Littleton screening of his latest, “Inherent Vice.” Based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel, the altered states “surf noir” stars an indelible Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello.

As Post readers know, early in December, Quentin Tarantino began production on “The Hateful Eight” in Telluride. Now the maker of “Boogie Nights” and “There Will Be Blood” is headed to town with his wild adaptation of Pynchon’s novel. Read more…

James Franco, left, and Seth Rogen in “The Interview” sure to be followed by next year’s sequel: “The International Incident.” Photo Columbia Pictures

One of the more insane by-products of Seth Rogen and co-director Evan Goldberg’s yanked then semi-unyanked comedy “The Interview” is the ongoing chatter on Twitter that it was all just one big publicity stunt on the part of Sony.

Out ahead of his comedy “Top Five,” writer-director-star Chris Rock has been giving interviews both thought-tweaking and entertaining. But it may be his Dec. 12 essay, penned for industry mag The Hollywood Reporter, that has been quoted most. And it’s sure to be fodder — along with Bill Cosby’s plummet, the TV series “Jane the Virgin” and Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” — for tonight’s panel “Doors Open, Doors Closed: Can We Laugh, Dance, Write Poetry, and Sing about RACE?” at History Colorado, part of the museum’s “Race: Are We So Different?” lecture series.

Rock’s piece should nudge the conversation for good reason: “It’s a White Industry. It Just Is” is whipsmart about race and racism. It’s especially wise about Hollywood’s version of the latter. For one, Rock goes beyond the black-and-white paradigm that dogs so much of the nation’s conversation (for necessary but also stuck reasons). Read more…

Philippe Petit in 1974 was the subject of James Marsh’s Oscar-winning doc, “Man on Wire.” AP Photo/Alan Weiner

“Man on Wire” was one of the finest films of 2008. James Marsh’s documentary about French aerialist Philippe Petit’s traversing of a cable stretched across the World Trade Center’s twin towers in 1974 went on to win the Oscar for best documentary feature. The film was a thing of beauty — capturing the epic and transcendent, and, yes, the mournful: Ah, those towers in their, reach-for-the-Heavens brazenness. That year, the film made my top 10 list with the greatest of ease:

In 1974, Philippe Petit has referred to his love of cable and height as an “absurd arrogance.” How thankful we should be for this brand of cockiness. James Marsh mixes real footage as well as re-created scenes of the buildup to that feat and interviews with the participants. The documentary unfolds like a heist flick. Only instead of stealing valuables, Petit gives us something invaluable.

Next year, director Robert Zemeckis brings Petit’s book “Reach the Clouds” to the big, ahem, really, big screen. “The Walk” is slated for IMAX 3-D screens come October 2015. The director of “Back to the Future,” “Forrest Gump,” “Polar Express” likes to embrace cinema’s tech possibilities. But it’s the human as the heart of this story who boosts my hopes. Zemeckis is blessed or wise (both) to have Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit. Here’s the teaser out today.

Daniel Junge’s “Being Evel” — about daredevil Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel” — will compete at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Provided by K&K Promotions

Who says only bad things come in threes? Clearly they are unaware of Colorado’s robust documentary film scene. Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its list of 15 non-fiction features vying for the five Oscar nominations to be announced Jan. 15. This afternoon the big kahuna of U.S. film festivals, Sundance, began revealing its competition films. Nestled in the list of U.S. docs: Daniel Junge’s “Being Evel,” about daredevil Evel Knievel, and Louie Psihoyos’ “Racing Extinction.” Read more…

Justin Kauflin, left, and Clark Terry are the stars of “Keep On Keepin’ On.” (Provided by Radius-TWC)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of the 15 documentary features that will advance in the Oscar race. Colorado’s doc-making power is well represented by first-time director Alan Hicks’ “Keep On Keepin’ On,” produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and edited and co-written by Davis Coombe.

Intimate and celebratory, “Keep On’ Keepin’ On” focuses on the relationship between jazz master and brilliant mentor Clark Terry and pianist Justin Kauflin. A prodigy, Kauflin has been blind since 11.

Terry, or “C.T.” as everyone refers to the trumpet and flugelhorn legend, is beginning to lose his eyesight due to complications from diabetes. Hicks’ film achieves a rare grace as it recounts a number of love stories: There is the profound and sweet connection the Terry and Kauflin share as teacher and student; the abiding ardor the two have for jazz; and, most tenderly, the relationship of Clark Terry and wife Gwen.

Film lovers, time to get out your calendar as the Denver Film Society readies to release its 37th Starz Denver Film Festival’s full program Oct. 27. Meanwhile, organizers of the 12-day affair have revealed the red-carpet and special presentation selections. One, Grant Barbeito and Christo Brock’s “Touch the Wall,” was announced earlier in the month. (Buell Theatre, Nov. 15, 2 p.m.)

Among the other offerings for the fest, which runs Nov. 12-23: A sure Academy Award best picture nominee, a likely best foreign-language film contender and three documentaries generating award-season buzz. The film society will begin announcing red carpet guests late next week as they’re confirmed. Read more…

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts announced today it has named John Ekeberg Executive Director, Broadway. The long-time stalwart, who began working in the organization’s box office in 1992, will oversee Broadway programming as well cabaret productions.Read more…

Film & theater critic Lisa Kennedy likes to watch -- a lot. She also has a fondness for no-man’s lands, contested territories and Venn Diagrams. She believes the best place to live is usually on the border between two vibrant neighborhoods. Where better to apply this penchant for overlap and divergence than covering film and theater – two arts that owe so much to each other yet offer radically idiosyncratic pleasures? In another life, Kennedy was an Obie judge. In this one, she’s been a Pulitzer Prize judge in criticism, an Independent Spirit Award jurist and Colorado’s first member of the National Society of Film Critics.

More than a mash-up of the Running Lines and Diary of a Madmoviergoer blogs, Stage, Screen & In Between offers engaged takes on Colorado theater and film and pointed views on news from both coasts and both industries. Culture lovers, add your voices. Culture-makers, share your production journal entries and photos.